“I need to be able to concentrate long enough to fill out
the bill of lading and speak with their agent, a few moments of silence pleaseeeee
arghhhh!” Rynocia’s instructions were interrupted by the electoral jolt her
slave collar delivered knocking her to the floor. Samvori her Duergar master brandishing a
golden disk and smiling malevolently over her, Rynocia grew silent and stood,
quickly filling out the bill of lading.

Entering the lobby from the back stairs Zodra Baxter was
almost caught staring at bizarre appearance of Rynocia, whose normally sloppy
and ugly appearance was overcome by her hair, drawn and strung straight out as
if greased into spikes. Catching herself
staring, Zodra forced a smile and took the crudely written bill from Rynocia
who remained quiet. Zodra gave the bill a
perfunctory glance, smiling at the ugly woman while explaining, “My brother has
inspected the delivery and agrees you have successfully delivered the bounty,”
before sliding over a small leather pouch full of coins.

Grime covered thick fingers slid over the counter snatching
the leather pouch of coins while dragging Rynocia away from the counter and out
the door. Zodra watched the strange dirt covered dwarf and ugly giant woman leave
thinking how strange they both had acted which reminded Zodra of other strange
bounty hunters they had worked with through the years.

Zodra tossed the bill of lading in the daily
receipts box. The note Rynocia had
hastily scribbled would go unread until Zodra’s brother asked her about it when
finalizing receipts at close of business that evening. “Zodra? Zodra? Did you see this? Peryf Baxter
was running up the stairs into his sister’s apartment, the bill gripped in his hand. Zodra stepped into the hall as her brother hurried
to her and looked down at the paper, the symbol for danger and the word HELP
staring back at her.